Origin

Title: Origin

Author: Jessica Khoury

Release Date: Available

Origin is an original (hehe, original) book about a girl who lives in a secluded testing facility deep in the rainforest. She is the product of over a hundred years of testing. Pia is the world’s first immortal human, or so she believes. Her skin is impenetrable, she is immune to disease, she won’t age, and she is faster and more agile than any normal human. She has no knowledge of the outside world, nor is she allowed to. But Pia, although curious, stays in the compound, working hard to become a scientist. Her deepest desire is to create more of her kind, so she won’t be so lonely. Yet all of that changes when she finds a hole in the fence surrounding the compound on her 17th birthday. For the first time in her life, she is free, at least for as long as it takes for the scientists to notice that she’s missing. There, in the rainforest, she meets an indigenous boy named Eio, who shows her what life is really like. Yet the scientists aren’t just going to let her walk away. A hundred years of research, money, and blood went into creating Pia. She belongs to them. They’ve killed to create her and they’ll kill to keep her.

This book had a very interesting premise, and a beautiful cover. I was intrigued and read the book non-stop from the moment I got it to the moment I finished it. Origin was very gripping, but I had a few problems with the ending. It was predictable and not very satisfying. It was a little too convenient and easy. Also, Pia wanted to be free so she could do all of these things in the book, but at the end she abandoned all of her goals. In the book’s defense, however, it was probably the only ending that could have wrapped up the book without leaving a cliffhanger. Yes, I know that’s vague, but I can’t go ‘round spoiling the ending, now can I?

Some of the characters were well developed and likeable, but I didn’t really connect with most of them. They were a little too two-dimensional. I say two-dimensional because most of the characters had one general personality trait and one interesting background story. They were all kind of distant, although most of them were evil scientists, so they have an excuse. The actual story, however, was well written and intriguing. All in all, I thought it was a great story that could have been better. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a quick and interesting summer read.

Review by Annalise

Order Origin from Book Passage